The technology exists today to create highly controllable light source variable in brightness, area and color temperature to facilitate the performance of tasks, to set moods, provide area light, display art, and the like. The known prior art light systems occasionally permit dimming and/or the switching between two kinds of light such a incandescent and florescent, but in general lighting systems designed with greater flexibility are expensive custom systems incorporating a large number of widely spaced light sources.
The present invention relates to an advanced multi-function lighting system and more specifically to the conversion of conventional portable table and floor lamps now in service to such a system, i.e., the manual conversion of the single up-socket of a portable lamp with a harp supported shade to an LED lighting system in which the amount and quality of available area and task light is remotely controllable, the conversion preserving the aesthetics of the original lamp by retaining the body and shade of the lamp and accomplished without the need for tools or special skills, without any wiring or structural changes to the lamp.
Harp System Lamp
There are estimated to be over 500 million portable table and floor lamps in service in homes, apartments, offices, hotels, and the like in the United States and Canada.
Lamps are generally bought to provide light, but the selection of the lamp bought is almost entirely architectural, i.e., the lamp actually selected will be purchased on the basis of the overall appearance of the lamp body and its shade. Lamp aesthetics require that the light source be hidden from direct sight by the shade to reduce glare, and that visual “hot spots” on the shade due to proximity to the light source be avoided. This leads almost universally to a single up-socket in which the shade is supported by a harp, the legs of which are in turn supported by a saddle secured at the junction of the lamp body and up-socket. (“Harp System Lamps”). The harp supports the shade in the desired position relative to the lamp body and offers some protection to the shade by limiting the proximity of the shade to the light source. The total amount of light available from such lamps is defined by the choice of bulb the lamp purchaser puts into the one available up-socket.
The typical Harp System Lamp includes an ornamental base from which the electric power cord extends to an electrical receptacle in the wall or floor. The cored ornamental body encloses the electrical wiring of the lamp and extends upwardly from the base to an up-socket for a base-down Edison based bulb.
The saddle is generally located just beneath the up-socket and removably receives the bottom ends of a harp that extends upwardly on both sides of the socket to support the lamp shade. The harp may take various shapes as it rises from the saddle, generally bending radially outward around the up-socket and light source, and then radially inward above the source to the central axis of the lamp to support the shade.
The shade laterally surrounds the up-socket and any bulb mounted therein to diffuse the light and reduce glare, and may be in the form of a cylinder (i.e., a “drum” shade), a truncated cone or pyramid, an oval, a rectangle, or a square. While some light may pass through the shade, the shade is open both at the top to provide area light and at the bottom to provide task light
Light Source Limitations In Harp System Lamps
Harp System Lamps require a shade to prevent glare and only a very small percentage of the light impinging on the shade passes through it. About 25-50 percent of the lumens emitted by the light source pass out of the opening at the top of the shade to be reflected off the room ceiling to provide indirect area light. About 20% of the total lumens are absorbed within the shade or are transmitted horizontally through the material of the shade.
In general, only about 50% of the total lumens emitted by a base-down bulb exit the bottom of the lamp shade as task light, with about a third of those lumens provided only when the shape and material of the shade directs light impinging on the shade toward the task area. Despite the small proportion of the total lumens available as task light, Harp System Lamps are widely used for a variety of tasks such as to read magazines or newspapers, to do needlework, to play cards, or to work with a computer.
In addition to controlling the amount of light available in Harp System Lamps for area and task lighting, it is highly desirable to control the nature of such light through the use of “smart” devices such as personal communicating devices and systems such as Siri and Alexa. Dimming, color temperature or “mood” and location of the light within a room are lighting functions not available in Harp System Lamps, which typically provide only total lumens adjustment through the use of a three-way up socket and switch in which the number of light sources within a single bulb may be selected.
While various directional lighting sources and associated control circuits are known, there are significant physical restrictions in using such technology in Harp System Lamps. The light source in a Harp System Lamp must be vertically above and derive its power from the single available up-socket, it must fit within the confines of the lamp shade and must avoid interference with the harp, both during and after installation. In addition, there are heat issues that must be addressed when selecting a light source.
Known light sources in Harp System Lamps are also located radially within the harp, and this location limitation materially restricts the number of point sources and the angles at which light can exit the top and bottom openings in the shade from those point sources.
Among the objects of the present invention is the manual conversion of Harp System Lamps to an multi-function LED lighting system which provides control over the nature of the light provided as well as the location thereof, while preserving the aesthetics of the Harp System Lamp by permitting the continued use of the original harp and shade, all without special skills or tools or modifying the original lamp circuitry.
Another object of the present invention is the expansion of the space available for point sources in a Harp System Lamp radially outside the harp to thereby increase the flexibility of the lamp as to the nature and direction of the light emitted therefrom.
While the most important functional criteria in the conversion of Harp System Lamps is light control while preserving the aesthetics of the lamp, the module of the present invention by which a Harp System Lamp is converted to an multi-function LED lighting system is inexpensive to purchase, easily installed by the typical lamp owner without special skills or tools or changes to the wiring of the Harp System Lamp, long lasting and requires very little power in its operation.
Many other objects and advantages will be apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments when read in conjunction with the appended drawings.